Independent Study, Spring 2019

Student: Sarah King

Supervising Professor: Dr. Heather Fox, Department of English

Project Title: Acquisition, Accessibility, and Cataloguing: Considering the Implications of “A Room of
One’s Own” for English Education Students

Objectives:
The student will…
1. Evaluate approaches and the implications of approaches to material acquisition, accessibility, and
cataloguing
2. Design and implement a catalogue system for English Education students’ access to the Writing
Project library’s resources
3. Connect research in archive studies to English Education initiatives on literacy access and
acquisition.
4. Synthesize preparatory research, project design and implementation, and reflection on the process
in an undergraduate research forum presentation, or similar opportunity.

Description:
In a Fall 2018 English Education methods course (ESE 543/743), students examined materials, previously
used for Writing Project Summer Institutes, for potential use in a final collaborative project. The Writing
Project room, located on the third floor of Mattox Hall, contains a small library of literary instruction
texts, often including multiple copies of a particular text. Currently, there is a lack of resources to
continue summer institute programs, so these resources remain unused. When pursuing the room, students
wondered about why certain texts were included in the library over others and why labeling seemed
inconsistent. One ESE 543 student, Sarah King, suggested that these texts could be made available to
other students in future English Education courses (while not in use by the Writing Project) but
simultaneously recognized that this initiative would require a cataloguing and borrowing system.

This independent study proposal developed from Sarah’s suggestion and her interest in connections
between English education and archive studies. Broadly, the study will focus on how materials are
acquired, accessed, and catalogued, considering the implications of how resources are organized have the
potential to engage (or not engage) an intended audience. In practice, Sarah will apply knowledge gained
from readings, reading responses, and “field trips” to EKU’s Special Collections & Archives to design
and implement a cataloguing and borrowing system for Writing Project resources. The project will
progress in three stages (1) selected readings, writing about readings, and experiential learning about
archive studies; (2) synthesizing and applying information gained from stage one to design and implement
a catalogue and borrowing system for English Education students; and (3) presenting on the experience,
as it relates to her future career in English Education, in an undergraduate research forum opportunity.

Course Schedule:
Timeline Description
Weeks 1-2 (Jan. 14- • Meet with Dr. Fox near the beginning of the first week of classes
25) • Check out readings from library and/or order readings through
Interlibrary Loan (ILLIAD)
 • Select and read TWO texts from the course reading options in Group
1.
• Focus on the most pertinent chapter (or introduction) from each text to
write a source summary (two summaries total).
• Write a reflective synthesis paper (500 words) that synthesizes
connections between your readings, as they pertain to issues of
acquisition, access, or cataloguing.
Weeks 3-4 (Jan. 28- • Meet with EKU archivists in Special Collections & Archives at least
Feb. 1) twice. Write a 1-2 paragraph reflection about what you learned from
each visit.
• Research for archive studies articles pertinent to the direction of your
inquiry. Write a source summary for at least two of these articles.
Week 5 (Feb. 4-8) • Meet with Dr. Fox to create a work schedule for Writing Project room
access
• Research and read at least three NCTE journal articles (English
Education, English Journal, Research in the Teaching of English) that
relate to your study. Write a source summary for each article.
• Write a reflective synthesis paper (500 words) that connects your
research, reading, and special collections & archives’ experiences in
Weeks 1-4 to English Education initiatives.
Weeks 6-10 (Feb. 11- • Meet with Dr. Fox to discuss cataloguing approach before
Mar. 8) implementation.
• Meet with EKU archivists in Special Collections & Archives at least
once. Write a 1-2 paragraph reflection about what you learned from
the visit.
• Design and implement the cataloguing system for Writing Project
materials.
Spring Break (Mar.
11-15)
Week 11 (Mar. 18- • Test the cataloguing system with one of Dr. Fox’s ENG 303 classes.
22) (This timeline may have to be amended for course schedule
alignment.)
• Write a reflective synthesis paper (500 words) on your experience
implementing the design, including how your decisions were informed
by early learning opportunities in the project.
Weeks 12-13 (Mar. • Meet with Dr. Fox to discuss the direction of your inquiry and
25-Apr. 5) research at the beginning of Week 12.
• Based on this discussion, select and read TWO texts from the course
reading options in Group 2. Consider how these texts inform,
complicate, and/or confirm your previous assumptions about
acquisition, accessibility, and/or cataloguing from the beginning stages
of the project.
• Write at least two source summaries from these texts, focusing on one
chapter and/or the introduction from each text.
Weeks 14-16 (Apr. 8- • Write and prepare a presentation about your research and experience,
26) emphasizing connections between acquisition, access, and cataloguing
in archive studies and English education.
• Meet with Dr. Fox to practice your presentation.
 • Present your findings in an undergraduate research forum, or similar
opportunity (timeline may vary).

Final exam week may 6-9/redo dates

Tentative Course Readings (selected by student in each category, based on inquiry):

Group 1 (Select only TWO, focusing on the introduction and specific chapters)
• Lynee Lewis Gaillet, et al. (eds.), Landmark Essays on Archival Research (Routledge, 2016)
• Antoinette Burton (ed.), Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History (Duke UP,
2005)

Group 2 (Select only TWO, focusing on the introduction and specific chapters)
• Marisa J. Fuentes, Dispossessed Lives: Enslaved Women, Violence, and the Archive (U of
Pennsylvania P, 2016)
• Sarah Ruffing Robbins, Learning Legacies: Archive to Action through Women’s Cross-Cultural
Teaching (U of Michigan P, 2017) LOOK AT BIBLIO HERE
• Nupur Chaudhuri (ed), Contesting Archives: Finding Women in the Sources (U of Illinois, 2010)
• Helen M. Buss and Marlene Kadar, Working in Women’s Archives: Researching Women’s
Private Literature and Archival Documents (Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2001)

Archive Studies Journals

• Essays, Notes, and Roundtable discussions in the Archive Journal (online, open access to all
content): http://www.archivejournal.net/
• The Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies (Yale U, online access to selected PDF articles
from recent content): https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/
• The American Archivist (articles/issues available through JSTOR in EKU online library and PDF
copies online via website): http://americanarchivist.org/